American Life in Poetry: Column 102

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Those of us who have hunted morel mushrooms in the early spring have hunted indeed! The morel is among nature's most elusive species. Here Jane Whitledge of Minnesota captures the morel's mysterious ways.


Morel Mushrooms

Softly they come
thumbing up from
firm ground

protruding unharmed.
Easily crumbled
and yet

how they shouldered
the leaf and mold
aside, rising

unperturbed,
breathing obscurely,
still as stone.

By the slumping log,
by the dappled aspen,
they grow alone.

A dumb eloquence
seems their trade.
Like hooded monks

in a sacred wood
they say:
Tomorrow we are gone.


Reprinted from "Wilderness Magazine," Spring, 1993, by permission of the author. Copyright (c) 1993 by Jane Whitledge. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.

You go, Barney

via gambling 911 (and various other media outlets):

The office of US Congressman Barney Frank, who is chairman of the House Financial Services committee, has confirmed that he is currently working on legislation to repeal the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

The news item appeared this afternoon [March 14- fhb] on the Financial Times website and has been confirmed to eGaming Review by Frank’s press department. The details of how any repeal would take action have not been worked out and no timeframe was given.

Frank is quoted as describing last autumn’s Act as one of the “stupidest laws” ever passed and adds: “I am working on legislation to cut back on this internet gambling thing… I think it’s preposterous”.

While rumors of Barney Frank’s support for a repeal of the Act had been circulating around the egaming industry in the past few weeks, Frank himself had not confirmed or commented on them. Shares in PartyGaming, 888 and Sportingbet were all up this afternoon.

The FT says the mid-term Democratic victory in the US Congress brought some hope to the online gaming sector and John Conyers, chairman of the House judiciary committee, is also considered sympathetic to the industry.

But while Frank and Conyers are “powerful potential allies, it is far from clear that the lawmakers would have enough support to pass any meaningful legislation” because it is not clear “whether the votes would be there for a regulatory bill”.

The FT adds that the US treasury is currently drafting the rules to implement the Act but that the deadline for presenting them has been missed and is now expected in April or May.

Frank Zappa Meets Robin the Boy Wonder

where else, but in Episode 31 of of the Dreamtime podcast?

Rechanneling Their Passion

Nice article on the rise of satellite radio deejays who play "anything they want," via The Washington Post:

There's no high-tech studio here, no sound baffling or soundboard -- just a few electronic components and a wind-socked microphone to capture [Mojo] Nixon's patter and periodic "yee-haws!" between songs.

He doesn't play concerts, not even locally; he doesn't record and he doesn't write songs any longer. "I could have turned Mojo Nixon into a cottage industry catering to 5,000 or 10,000 fans," he says. "But that doesn't sound very Mojo. I could exercise, lose weight, do all of that and continue touring, but who wants to do that? So I thought I'd get a job in radio or something."

He's not alone. Nixon is one of an ever-expanding roster of major and minor performers who are working as full- or part-time hosts of programs broadcast over the digitized airwaves of New York's Sirius and Washington's XM Radio. The advent of convenient, efficient technology and an open-arms attitude by the satellite networks have made for a new type of deejay. As much as their names are a draw, so is their deep knowledge of the formats they play.

Musician jocks for Sirius include B-52s singer Fred Schneider, New York Dolls frontman David Johansen, Ramones drummer Marky Ramone, glam rocker Joan Jett, country fiddler Charlie Daniels and area folk heroes the Kennedys, among others.

XM has icons including Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Graham Nash, pioneering producer and performer Quincy Jones, rappers Snoop Dogg and Chamillionaire, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis -- and more to come, says Lee Abrams, chief creative officer of XM.

I Have Seen the Future and It's Name Is "Little Miss Sunshine"

but this isn't about that funny, quirky movie that Peggy and I watched last night. It's about how we watched it. Four days ago, TiVo sent me an email letting me know that their partnership with Amazon was out of beta, and I could now start ordering movies through Amazon for either rental or purchase. They even threw in a $15 gift certificate as bait... not that it was needed.

So, I did the sign-up, hooking my TiVo account into my Amazon account, bopped over to Amazon's weirdly named "Unbox" section, found "Little Miss Sunshine," and voilà, over in the right hand corner of the movie description page was an option to download to our TiVo for $3.99. One click brought a summary message that the download would start within 15 minutes, and 5 minutes later the little blue light on the TiVo glowed on.

Convenience? No muss, no fuss. No trip to Blockbuster. No waiting for a Netflix DVD in the mail. No hassle of returning the DVD.

Picture quality? TiVo says, "Unbox videos watched on a TiVo are of better quality than videos recorded at the Best Quality setting on a TiVo Series2™ DVR." Based on what we saw, I'd agree with that.

Download time? TiVo says an average hour download for the average movie on a broadband-connected recorder. Our TiVo is connected through a 801.G wireless adapter to an older 801.b router, and it took close to two hours for "Little Miss Sunshine"(1.9 GB) to download.

Is it perfect? Nope. Peggy pointed out that it's definitely not video-on-demand and doesn't promote spontaneity, which is how we tend to watch movies. For newer movies, there's a complicated "blackout" formula, which can even affect movies you buy (rather than rent) through Unbox. From the TiVo FAQ:

"Due to restrictions from the video rights holders, most newly released movies will occasionally become temporarily unavailable for re-download from Your Media Library—even after they’ve already been purchased.

During this "Pay-TV Blackout Window" certain programs will be temporarily unavailable from the Unbox catalog and Your Media Library. This happens during the program’s run on a pay-cable channel.

The video will be automatically replaced and made available to you through Your Media Library once the "Pay-TV Blackout Window" has ended."

The whole rental thing is a little more confusing than it needs to be, and isn't clarified through the various TiVo/Amazon FAQs. I think that you have a 30-day window to watch a downloaded video (UPDATE: The 30-day limit is correct), but couldn't tell from our download of LMS, since the notification also seemed to be tied somehow into the Blackout Window.

I also think that once a movie is started, it has to be finished within a 24-hour period, but I could be wrong about that one. It seems like a stupid requirement if it is a requirement. (UPDATE: Unfortunately the idiotic, "movie must be finished within 24-hours after starting" requirement is correct. "Why?" is another matter.)

In theory, I like the idea of having all of our purchased movies available on Amazon, in our ongoing battle to lessen the "too much shit" clutter around the house. In practice, we're going to need downloads - especially when most movies go into hi-def - a helluva lot faster than 1-2 hours per movie. If we're in the mood for Casablanca, we're going to want it then and there.

But, it's a great first step towards the El Dorado of that old Qwest "Motel" commercial, where the person renting the room is advised "every movie ever made in every language, anytime, day or night" is available.

Get a Uclue

While Constant Readers know that I was no fan of the now defunct Google Answers (contract researchers - of which I was one for a time - would attempt to answer customer questions for payment), I was a fan of many of the researchers. In fact, I was a fan of nearly everything at GA except the brain-damaged administration of the site... but no need to get into that rant again.

Now, many of the GA researchers are back at a new site called uclue.com, an attempt to do GA right. With the absence of the contradictory combination of Google interference and benign neglect, I suspect that uclue may have a shot. The early signs look good. For example, GA refused to allow researchers to provide answers in other than English (I suspect because the overseers only had one language), even though a high percentage of GA customers were from other than English-speaking countries. uclue can field questions in three languages, English, German and Spanish, and may add more down the road.

At last count, 29 of the former GARs have signed up as researchers on uclue, including many of the most well-known in the GA community, such as pinkfreud. In theory, I'd be eligible to join up as a researcher, too, but have no plans to at this point, with way too many other paying gigs on my plate. But best of luck to all my old colleagues!

He's actually in a giant energy pod. No wait, that was Jean Grey

".. comics, like soap operas, never have third acts. There are no conclusions, just the illusion of conclusion."

Adam Rogers on why the death of Captain America don't mean a thing, except to True Believers.

... and I would like to meet more bank tellers

Police have have created a MySpace account for a serial bank robber.

Do You Know Me??? already has over 1,000 MySpace friends.

"We can go back to the moon someday." - Love and emails

via the AP:

NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak's bizarre 900-mile road trip to confront a romantic rival may have been sparked when she uncovered steamy e-mails sent to her boyfriend by the other woman, documents released Monday showed.

Nowak had collected more than a dozen e-mails sent to her one-time boyfriend, space shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein, including one he received during his shuttle mission, according to the documents, released late Monday by the Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office.

"First urge will be to rip your clothes off," Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman wrote to Oefelein while he was aboard shuttle Discovery in December. "But honestly, love, I want you to totally and thoroughly enjoy your hero's homecoming."

You can read (Acrobat Reader required) the love letters here, but I warn you, they're the typical embarrassing letters you wouldn't want anyone else to read, and probably don't want to read yourself unless you're in the relationship. The letters are both touching - in a weird sort of way - and bizarre. Yahoo non sequiter ads at the bottom - TV dinner still cooling? - the steamy, flirtatious lines you'd expect - great big giant hug with my legs around you - and then a line like "We can go back to the moon someday."

In the end, they're people too.

The end of internet radio?

File this one under "golden eggs: goose killing of"

Maybe. I hope not, but it may be the end to some of my online music fave raves, including Pandora and Yahoo Live 365 (which I'm listening to now through our TiVo), and possibly even (gasp!) no more Theme Time Radio Hour available through the internet.

I've contemplated starting a Live 365 station, even as bad a deejay as I am, but this would put the spike in that, too.

“Left unchanged, it’s over for us and every other internet radio service, period. Makes it un-viable,” Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren wrote in an email. “We’re staying online because we’re hopeful that sanity will eventually win out. This is a ludicrous ruling.”

Till recently, the royalty rate was about 7/100th of a penny per performance, allowing many small webcasters to thrive and build sizeable audiences. At 14-15 songs per hour, it worked out to about penny an hour – one of the main reasons why Yahoo could offer music-streaming services at affordable prices.

However, now the equation has changed – the royalty rates will increase every year through 2010 when it is going to cost about $0.0019 per performance. While not much when taken as a single performance, the amount does add up if you are a company that streams millions of performances per day. (The details of the new arrangement are very well explained on this website.)

Link

1984 all over again

via the Huff-Po. I suspect this won't be up for long, so watch while you can. According to Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo, the video was made by a Barack Obama supporter and not a member of his campaign. And no, this isn't an fhb endorsement of Obama vs. Clinton. I'm just amused - and intrigued - by how much technology coming into play in this campaign, or pre-campaign, or whatever the hell it is...

Feces Spewing Obscenity 1 Edwards 0

via Wired via the John Edwards' blog.

From the original posting:

John Edwards Second Life HQ vandalized.

"Shortly before midnight (CST) on Monday, February 26, a group of republican Second Life users, some sporting "Bush '08" tags, vandalized the John Edwards Second Life HQ. They plastered the area with Marxist/Lenninist posters and slogans, a feces spewing obsenity[sic], and a photoshopped picture of John in blackface, all the while harrassing visitors with right-wing nonsense and obsenity [sic]-laden abuse of Democrats in general and John in particular. I witnessed this event, taking names and photos, including the owners of the pictures. I also kept and saved a copy of the chat log. I have filed an abuse report with Linden Labs, and am awaiting their investigation."

If you scroll through the the comments from the Edwards' blog posting, you'll find that some bored Second Life pranksters - I'd guess more spiritually akin to anarchists than Republicans - are claiming responsibility. Expect to see stuff like this throughout the campaign, as generally clueless political media and PR-types try to leverage technology they don't understand. Note to Edwards' peeps: Next time read the docs on preventing vandalism, as the rep. from Linden Labs also points out in the comments. It's the only way to stay ahead of those feces-spouting obscenities.

American Life in Poetry: Column 101

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Those big cherry flavored wax lips that my friends and I used to buy when I was a boy, well, how could I resist this poem by Cynthia Rylant of Oregon?


Wax Lips

Todd's Hardware was dust and a monkey--
a real one, on the second floor--
and Mrs. Todd there behind the glass cases.
We stepped over buckets of nails and lawnmowers
to get to the candy counter in the back,
and pointed at the red wax lips,
and Mary Janes,
and straws full of purple sugar.
Said goodbye to Mrs. Todd, she white-faced and silent,
and walked the streets of Beaver,
our teeth sunk hard in the wax,
and big red lips worth kissing.


"Wax Lips" by Cynthia Rylant from WAITING TO WALTZ. Copyright (c) 2001 by Cynthia Rylant. Reprinted with permission of the author, whose most recent book of poetry is "Ludie's Life," Harcourt, 2006. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.

American Life in Poetry: Column 100

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Here the Maine poet, Wesley McNair, offers us a vivid description of a man who has lived beyond himself. I'd guess you won't easily forget this sad old man in his apron with his tray of cheese.


The One I Think of Now

At the end of my stepfather's life
when his anger was gone,
and the saplings of his failed
nursery had grown into trees,
my newly feminist mother had him
in the kitchen to pay for all
those years he only did the carving.
"You know where that is,"
she would say as he looked
for a knife to cut the cheese
and a tray to serve it with,
his apron wide as a dress
above his workboots, confused
as a girl. He is the one I think of now,
lifting the tray for my family,
the guests, until at last he comes
to me. And I, no less confused,
look down from his hurt eyes as if
there were nothing between us
except an arrangement of cheese,
and not this bafflement, these
almost tender hands that once
swung hammers and drove machines
and insisted that I learn to be a man.


American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Poem copyright (c) 2002 by Wesley McNair, whose most recent book is "The Ghosts of You and Me," David R. Godine, 2006. Reprinted from "Fire: Poems," published by David R. Godine, 2002, by permission of the author. Introduction copyright (c) 2006 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

Just Because I Can: Part 2

... in an ongoing effort to convince Maudie I need a vacay (congrats on the Mookie win, btw!)

Just because I can

New blog from poet Andrei Guruianu

Andrei Guruianu, whose poem "Grandfather," I really liked recently left a comment noting that he's started up his blog at www.andreiguruianu.com.

Well worth the visit if you like engaging, thoughtful poetry.

Delegate Wants to Ban Vehicle Displays of Plastic Genitals

One of those "never heard of it, and then they're everywhere things." I first heard about this on NPR Friday. Peggy and I saw our first, ah, pair, on our way home from Newport yesterday, and this pops up in my news feed.

Maryland Del. LeRoy E. Myers Jr. to truckers: If you've got 'em, you don't need to flaunt 'em.

As the General Assembly debates global warming and the death penalty, Myers (R-Washington) has something else on his mind: the outsized plastic testicles that truckers dangle from the trailer hitches of their pickups.

via the Washington Post

Countdown At the Movies

Cross-promotion time again. My latest gather column is up. A free taste (to get you hooked)...

We're doing a musical movie countdown this week in honor of the 79th Academy Awards, coming to a TV screen near you this Sunday, the 25th.

As it's too easy to include musicals with great music - from Singing in the Rain to Hair, I excluded them from this list of movie songs and music that plays on an extended engagement in my Theater of Memory.

10. "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" - from The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Featured in Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of his 1934 original, and sung by Doris Day. "Que Sera, Sera" received the 1956 Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was the third Oscar in this category for songwriters Jay Livingston and Ray Evans.

The song has an interesting history, considering that Hitchcock initially didn't want Doris Day (she was a part of a package deal in order for Hitchcock to secure the services of Jimmy Stewart) and didn't want a song for the movie, even though the studio was pressing him to use something to feature Day's voice.

Hitchcock figured out how to get a song in the movie - in fact, it became a key plot element - and changed his opinion about Day, who he later said did a fine job. He commissioned Livingston and Evans to write something that "had a foreign title" and was to be "sung to a little boy." The two had recently seen the Ava Gardner film, The Barefoot Contessa, where the character played by Rossano Brazzi had the family motto "Che Sera, Sera." Evans and Livingston switched the Italian "Che" to "Que," apparently feeling that Spanish was more accessible in the U.S. than Italian, and came up with the lyrics.

Continuing the comedy of errors, Doris Day was not at all thrilled by the prospect of singing "Que Sera Sera." In fact, she refused to record it, until ultimately bowing from pressure by Paramount. Reportedly, she did the song in one take and walked out of the studio saying, "That's the last time you'll ever hear that."

Of course, the song became a signature piece for Day, who would use it as the theme for her television sitcom series, and sing snippets of it in several of her other movies, including Please Don't Eat the Daisies and The Glass-Bottom Boat.

Sources: Google Answers; Wikipedia

9. Theme from per un Pugno di Dollari (A Fistful of Dollars) - Ennio Morricone (as Dan Savio) (1964)

Da-da-da-dah! WAH WAH WAH! Hired by Leone for Per un pugno di dollari on the strength of some of his song arrangements, Morricone would revolutionize how Westerns sounded, just as Leone would bend the Western movie genre totally out of shape. The soundtrack's exceedingly strange instrumentation included bells, electric guitars, harmonicas, and a jew's harp, and would be repeated with variations in the two succeeding Man with No Name movies.

Source: IMDB

The full list is right here.

The Return of Muffin

via "Bertsie from Washington"

An exhaustive - and exhausting - "Trouble in Vegas" game/trip report for the Hodag Ultimate Team can be found here, written by the indefatigable Muffin, who has apparently never met a paragraph break he liked.

At this point the Hodags freaked out and with Scallet getting D’s in the air all over the place and Even Klane bombing forehands, we steal half 7-3.

I'm not sure what "Ds all over the air" are exactly, but assume it's good. I think Florida also won over Wisconsin, even though Wisconsin "nutted up, forcing Universe" which sounds painful. But on to Baton Rouge for that prize money. Go HoDags!

And lil White Balls with Dimples in Dreamtime

In honor of Theme Time's Host's recent purchase in Scotland, Dreamtime plays at "Theme Time," with an extra-long 29-minute episode featuring music, jokes, email, and commentary all related to the theme, "Golf."

Episode 30 - A Good Walk Spoiled

Sirius, XM Announce Intent to Merge

PW (not my PW, but "Popular Wisdom," which seldom is) has it that this is unlikely to happen, but I hope in this case PW is wrong...

PRESS RELEASE — XM Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: XMSR - News) and SIRIUS Satellite Radio (Nasdaq: SIRI - News) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement, under which the companies will be combined in a tax-free, all-stock merger of equals with a combined enterprise value of approximately $13 billion, which includes net debt of approximately $1.6 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, XM shareholders will receive a fixed exchange ratio of 4.6 shares of SIRIUS common stock for each share of XM they own. XM and SIRIUS shareholders will each own approximately 50 percent of the combined company.

Mel Karmazin, currently Chief Executive Officer of SIRIUS, will become Chief Executive Officer of the combined company and Gary Parsons, currently Chairman of XM, will become Chairman of the combined company. The new company’s board of directors will consist of 12 directors, including Messrs. Karmazin and Parsons, four independent members designated by each company, as well as one representative from each of General Motors and American Honda. Hugh Panero, the Chief Executive Officer of XM, will continue in his current role until the anticipated close of the merger.

The combined company will benefit from a highly experienced management team from both companies with extensive industry knowledge in radio, media, consumer electronics, OEM engineering and technology. Further management appointments will be announced prior to closing. The companies will continue to operate independently until the transaction is completed and will work together to determine the combined company’s corporate name and headquarters location prior to closing.

The combination creates a nationwide audio entertainment provider with combined 2006 revenues of approximately $1.5 billion based on analysts’ consensus estimates. Today the companies have approximately 14 million combined subscribers. Together, SIRIUS and XM will create a stronger platform for future innovation within the audio entertainment industry and will provide significant benefits to all constituencies, including:

* Greater Programming and Content Choices — The combined company is
committed to consumer choice, including offering consumers the ability
to pick and choose the channels and content they want on a more a la
carte basis. The combined company will also provide consumers with a
broader selection of content, including a wide range of commercial-free
music channels, exclusive and non-exclusive sports coverage, news,
talk, and entertainment programming. Together, XM and SIRIUS will be
able to improve on products such as real-time traffic and rear-seat
video and introduce new ones such as advanced data services including
enhanced traffic, weather and infotainment offerings.

* Accelerated Technological Innovation — The merger will enable the
combined company to develop and introduce a wider range of lower cost,
easy-to-use, and multi-functional devices through efficiencies in chip
set and radio design and procurement. Such innovation is essential to
remaining competitive in the consumer electronics-driven world of audio
entertainment.

* Benefits to OEM and Retail Partners — The combined company will offer
automakers and retailers the opportunity to provide a broader content
offering to their customers. Consumer electronics retailers, including
Best Buy, Circuit City, RadioShack, Wal-Mart and others, will benefit
from enhanced product offerings that should allow satellite radio to
compete more effectively.

* Enhanced Financial Performance — This transaction will enhance the
long-term financial success of satellite radio by allowing the combined
company to better manage its costs through sales and marketing and
subscriber acquisition efficiencies, satellite fleet synergies, combined
R&D and other benefits from economies of scale. Wall Street equity
analysts have published estimates of the present value of cost synergies
ranging from $3 billion to $7 billion.

* More Competitive Audio Entertainment Provider — The combination of an
enhanced programming lineup with improved technology, distribution and
financials will better position satellite radio to compete for
consumers’ attention and entertainment dollars against a host of
products and services in the highly competitive and rapidly evolving
audio entertainment marketplace. In addition to existing competition
from free “over-the-air” AM and FM radio as well as iPods and mobile
phone streaming, satellite radio will face new challenges from the rapid
growth of HD Radio, Internet radio and next generation wireless
technologies.

“We are excited for the many opportunities that an XM and SIRIUS combination will provide consumers,” said Gary Parsons, Chairman of XM Satellite Radio and Hugh Panero, CEO of XM Satellite Radio, in a joint statement. “The combined company will be better positioned to compete effectively with the continually expanding array of entertainment alternatives that consumers have embraced since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first granted our satellite radio licenses a decade ago.”

“This combination is the next logical step in the evolution of audio entertainment,” said Mel Karmazin, CEO of SIRIUS Satellite Radio. “Together, our best-in-class management team and programming content will create unprecedented choice for consumers, while creating long-term value for shareholders of both companies. The combined company will be positioned to capitalize on SIRIUS and XM’s complementary distribution and licensing agreements to enhance availability of satellite radios, offer expanded content to subscribers, drive increased advertising revenue and reduce expenses. Each of our companies has a strong commitment to providing listeners the broadest range of music, news, sports and entertainment and the best customer service possible. We look forward to sharing the benefits of the exciting new growth opportunities this combination will provide with all of our stakeholders.”

The transaction is subject to approval by both companies’ shareholders, the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory review and approvals, including antitrust agencies and the FCC. Pending regulatory approval, the companies expect the transaction to be completed by the end of 2007.

SIRIUS’s financial advisor on the transaction is Morgan Stanley and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and Wiley Rein LLP are acting as legal counsel. XM’s financial advisor on the transaction is J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; Jones Day; and Latham & Watkins LLP are acting as legal counsel.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

The companies will hold a joint conference call and webcast on Tuesday, February 20, 2007 at 8:30 AM ET to discuss this announcement. The conference call can be monitored by dialing 800-573-4840 within the U.S. and 617-224-4326 for all other locations, passcode 29490052. The webcast can be accessed at http://www.sirius.com and http://www.xmradio.com as well as on their satellite radio services by tuning to SIRIUS channel 122 and XM channel 200. The webcast will be archived at http://www.sirius.com and http://www.xmradio.com.

Fred on Gather

I have so many cross-promotions going, it's getting hard to keep track of them all. :-)

But for those of you who have asked, here's the link to my Gather page, where you can keep up on my weekly column, Music You Never Forget, as well as other postings. If you're a die hard Fred fan, you can even join Gather and click on that little "Connect" button you'll find in the left column, and then get email updates whenever I post something "new."

"New" is in quotes because at least one reader expressed disappointment that I've been reworking several articles that originally appeared either in fhb or Dreamtime. And, that's true, but considering the size of my audience in both blogs, I figure I can get away with pushing re-runs out to a larger readership. Constant Readers - that would be you, O husband of Joyride - will be happy to know that yesterday's column, Somebody Say a Prayer, is brand-spanking new, although I just cross-posted a version to Dreamtime.

Between Dreamtime and Gather, I'm now writing the equivalent of two weekly columns, as well as regular posts on fhb, and let us say, only getting fully reimbursed in the spiritual sense for my efforts. But, by God, I'm having fun, and who can ask for more?

American Life in Poetry: Column 099

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

My maternal grandparents got their drinking water from a well in the yard, and my disabled uncle carried it sloshing to the house, one bucket of hard red water early every morning. I couldn't resist sharing this lovely little poem by Minnesota poet, Sharon Chmielarz. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.


New Water

All those years--almost a hundred--
the farm had hard water.
Hard orange. Buckets lined in orange.
Sink and tub and toilet, too,
once they got running water.
And now, in less than a lifetime,
just by changing the well's location,
in the same yard, mind you,
the water's soft, clear, delicious to drink.
All those years to shake your head over.
Look how sweet life has become;
you can see it in the couple who live here,
their calmness as they sit at their table,
the beauty as they offer you new water to drink.


Reprinted by permission of Sharon Chmielarz, whose most recent collection of poems is "The Rhubarb King," Loonfeather Press, 2006. Copyright (c) 2006 by Sharon Chmielarz. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

In memoriam

better late than never. via WFMU's "Beware of the Blog"

Fox News has the best line: "Local streets were closed off to rush Smith to the hospital, three miles away. Paramedics were seen pumping her chest as she was taken from the hotel."

I keep insisting to Peggy that I'm the father, but she refuses to listen.

Maltese Falcon swiped from SF restaurant

via the Sf Chronicle:

(02-12) 16:46 PST -- It's been nearly 80 years since Sam Spade wandered the streets of San Francisco in search of the Maltese Falcon. Now, the statue is missing again.

John Konstin, the owner of San Francisco's John's Grill on Ellis Street, said someone broke into a locked cabinet on the second floor of his establishment and took a signed reproduction of the Maltese Falcon -- one used for publicity stills for the movie -- along with several vintage and signed books by and about Maltese Falcon author Dashiell Hammett.

Konstin said the theft was noticed Saturday afternoon. He guesses the theft took place sometime late Friday night or in the early morning hours of Saturday.

The black statue was signed by actor Elisha Cook Jr., a San Franciscan who played the role of Wilmer the Gunsel in the movie. He presented it to the restaurant after Konstin and San Francisco private investigator Jack Immendorf failed in their attempt to buy the original bird that was used in the movie.

Police have been summoned to the scene of the broken cabinet on the second floor of the restaurant, and Konstin has offered a $25,000 reward for return of the statue and books.

More on the Tivo/Amazon deal

Mark Evanier has some interesting thoughts on the TiVo/Amazon joint venture I blogged last week.

What do we think of this? We think it's interesting and inevitable. We also think it's going to be the subject of at least one of the nastiest labor negotiations — and probably, strikes — that Hollywood has ever seen. The Writers Guild wants a piece of digital delivery. The Screen Actors Guild wants a piece. And even the Directors Guild — that wouldn't strike if the studios made directors all wear frog costumes and hop around the set — is talking labor stoppage. (If the DGA stays true to history, they won't strike. What they'll do is make some sort of deal which, by its very construction, creates a payment system that works for directors but doesn't work for writers or actors. The studios will agree to it and then try to force it on the other two unions as a precedent.)

And over at Dreamtime - Episode 29 - Please Don't Go Topless, Mother

I'm off-topic with this episode, since Theme Time hasn't played anything sung by Troy or Bennie Hess. But, if Dylan hadn't mentioned Eddie Noack's "Psycho," I would have never discovered the God Less America compilation and would never have found this song. And as with most - if not all- songs, there's a great story behind it.

Also, a special guest appearance by Jailbait's older sister, Jailbird Joyride Jones.

American Life in Poetry: Column 098

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

A horse's head is big, and the closer you get to it, the bigger it gets. Here is the Idaho poet, Robert Wrigley, offering us a horse's head, up close, and covering a horse's character, too.


Kissing a Horse

Of the two spoiled, barn-sour geldings
we owned that year, it was Red--
skittish and prone to explode
even at fourteen years--who'd let me
hold to my face his own: the massive labyrinthine
caverns of the nostrils, the broad plain
up the head to the eyes. He'd let me stroke
his coarse chin whiskers and take
his soft meaty underlip
in my hands, press my man's carnivorous
kiss to his grass-nipping upper half of one, just
so that I could smell
the long way his breath had come from the rain
and the sun, the lungs and the heart,
from a world that meant no harm.


Reprinted from "Earthly Meditations: New and Selected Poems," published in 2006 by Penguin. Copyright (c) Robert Wrigley, 2006, and reprinted by permission of the author. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.

TiVo and Amazon.com Announce New Service Enabling Amazon Unbox Video Downloads to TiVo

TiVo Subscribers Will Soon Be Able To Watch Amazon Unbox Movies and TV Shows On Their TVs

ALVISO, Calif. and SEATTLE— February 7, 2007 — TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO), the creator of and a leader in television services for digital video recorders (DVRs), and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN), today announced "Amazon Unbox on TiVo," a soon-to-be-launched service feature that will provide TiVo subscribers with the ability to rent and purchase movies and television shows from leading studios and networks including CBS, Fox Entertainment Group, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Entertainment. Amazon Unbox on TiVo is currently in beta testing among a select group of TiVo subscribers and will be available soon to more than 1.5 million broadband-ready TiVo boxes.

The Amazon Unbox video download service, which launched in September 2006, offers thousands of movies, television shows and other videos for download to PCs and any Windows Media Video-compatible portable device. Now, in addition to PCs and portable devices, movies and television shows will be available to download directly to a customer's TiVo box for playback on their television set. This is the first service that uniquely allows for downloadable broadband video to be integrated with programming recorded from TV so the consumer can easily navigate all viewing options.

"TiVo is taking the best way to watch TV and making it the best way to get popular movies and television shows from major Hollywood studios," said TiVo's CEO, Tom Rogers. "Now, TiVo subscribers can rent and purchase movies and TV shows and download them to their television set — all without leaving their homes."

"By teaming up with TiVo, we are offering our customers another great way to watch their Unbox videos," said Bill Carr, vice president of digital media at Amazon. "Amazon Unbox offers customers the flexibility to watch their favorite videos where and when they want to whether that is on their PC, portable device or TV set through their TiVo box."

To activate the service, subscribers will simply log on to Amazon.com and follow a few simple steps to establish a link between their broadband connected TiVo Series2™ or Series3™ box and their Amazon account. Once the initial set up is complete, eligible movies or television shows from Amazon Unbox can be downloaded directly to the customer's TiVo box. After the movie has been downloaded, the title will automatically appear in the subscriber's TiVo "Now Playing" list with all of their other recorded shows, easily viewed with just a click of the TiVo remote.

Customers can purchase television episodes for $1.99, purchase most movies for between $9.99 and $14.99, or rent movies starting at $1.99. As an added bonus, all purchased videos are automatically stored in each customer's "Your Media Library" at Amazon.com for future access and download.

"The television is and will continue to be the preferred platform for watching video content, and TiVo is leading the charge in offering broadband-delivered content to the living room," said Tara Maitra, TiVo's vice president and general manager, programming. "By adding Amazon Unbox on TiVo, we are expanding the TiVoCast service to include movies, television shows and other premium content, giving TiVo subscribers access to the full range of video programming a consumer may want."

For more information on Amazon Unbox on TiVo visit www.tivo.com/amazon or www.amazon.com/unbox. TiVo is available for as low as $69.99, after mail-in rebate and service commitment at leading consumer electronics stores.

Top 10 Signs an Astronaut is Trying to Kill You

via David Letterman (natch):

Top Ten

10. Says, "This is a giant leap for mankind" as she tosses you off a bridge
9. You turn on CNN and see the Hubble Telescope focusing on your house
8. She promises to "Take you out like Pluto"
7. It sounds crazy, but you could swear Mars is following you
6. You were on the "Maury" episode: "I Had A Booty Call And Now An Astronaut Is Trying To Kill Me"
5. Her previous attempts to kill you have been postponed due to high winds
4. She poisons your Tang
3. Says she looks forward to being the first to walk on your lifeless corpse
2. Been getting threatening emails from Connie@International Space Station.com
1. She keeps stabbing you with a pen that writes upside down

Yes, but does she wears panties?

via Thomas Hawk:

A few hundred people packed Justin Herman Plaza today in downtown San Francisco to watch the latest incarnation of Jefferson Starship perform a public concert. Microsoft sponsored the noon-time event as part of their $500 million mega marketing push for Vista. In addition to a giant Vista logo and a huge blow up Microsoft astronaut, Jefferson Starship were joined on stage by go-go dancing orange Vista astronauts and schwag was shot from cannons on the stage into the crowd.

The aging rockers played mostly a mix of contemporary and classic tunes including "White Rabbit" and "The Time Has Come Today," and sported Zunes while performing (just kidding about that Zune part).

Grace Slick wasn't in the line up, but they did have a younger, hotter, version who at one point flipped the audience the bird when someone said that Steve Jobs was in the crowd (again, just kidding about that last part of course).

There are so0000 many ways to rant about this that it virtually makes me speechless. I don't want a "younger, hotter version of Grace Slick." My headline, btw, for my younger readers, is a reference to the fact that Gracie in her heyday was notorious for flipping her dress/skirt up in performance, revealing that she was ah, sans culottes.

The younger, hotter thing up there, doing her best "Grace Slick flipping the bird" is probably Diana Mangano, who is the lead singer of one of the competing Starship corpses - I mean bands - with Kantner and Balin, who should be ashamed of themselves, and should go start other, new bands if they want to play music, rather than being damnable blood-sucking zombies feeding off the dead.

The Airplane was such a good band. Even the first incarnation of the Starship wasn't bad, but jesus, jesus, look what we've become. It makes you just want to scream out the Who line, "hope I die before I get old."

Why I don't play live poker - Part the 1st (an ongoing series)

Today is 2/7/07

which means it's Hammer Day (courtesy Maudie).

I still don't have any money in FullTilt, and have other obligations tonight, but soon, soon.

Be Disney and be proud of it

My pull-down blogroll to your right links to the sites I read most regularly, although I periodically give a rest to even the favorites.

One of those links is Re-Imagineering, an ongoing anonymous discussion among Disney and Pixar employees about what's wrong, and what isn't working, and occasionally what is working with the modern Disney Theme parks. If you're a fan of those parks, especially of Disneyland in its heyday of the `60s, it's fascinating, if often sad, reading.

One regular stop on my family's periodic trips to Disneyland was The Enchanted Tiki Room, a corny but fun animatronic show where "the birdies sing and the drums go boom" as the song went. While Tiki culture was still popular, and the Tiki Room's animatronics were then state-of-the-art, in the `60s, time passes as it does, and the show eventually became one of Disneyland's (and its equivalent, Disneyworld) least popular attractions - to the point where audiences were regularly walking out before the show finished. It closed for a revamp in the late `90s, and reopened with

[t]he premise that Aladdin’s Iago and Lion King’s Zazu have taken over the show because Jose, Michael, Pierre and Fritz can’t keep butts in the seats. Talk about literal storytelling.

It was a catastrophe, with the show being called, “Abrasive,” “Rude,” “Disrespectful,” “Disgraceful,” and “Obnoxious,” by offended Disney customers. The full story, which is well worth a read, is here.

The sad thing about the story - as most of the stories at Re-Imagineering are, is the writer's conclusion that the people responsible still didn't - and don't - "get" it. It's not about "being careful when updating classic attractions which visitors may have an emotional investment in." It's about thinking about what Disney was, what made Disney successful, and doing what needs to be done o ensure you're sticking to those precepts.

It's about being yourself. About being Disney, in this case. The writer concludes that in some ways Disney is like the classic nerdy kid who we all know and love, even if he is a bit of a dork. Yeah, the kid will grow up and change, but we want - from the "know and love" perspective - for that kid to become an adult version of himself, with the same qualities. We don't want him to shave his head, get a tat, and pierce his tongue.

Good advice for us all. Simple, and Disneyesque. Just be yourself.

Mrs. Nowak (heart) Mr. Oefelein

via Peggy and the Noir Dame Blog (no relation):

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- An astronaut drove 900 miles and donned a disguise to confront a woman she believed was her rival for the affections of a space shuttle pilot, police said. She was arrested Monday and charged with attempted kidnapping and other counts.

"If you were just going to talk to someone, I don't know that you would need a wig, a trench coat, an air cartridge BB gun and pepper spray," said Sgt. Barbara Jones, a spokeswoman for the Orlando Police Department. "It's just really a very sad case. ... Now she ends up finding herself on the other side of the law with some very serious charges."

Full AP story here.

WMPS Good Guys Welcome the Rolling Stones

one long strange trip for a striped shirt

Take a look at the far right corner of the iconic Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band cover and you'll find a Shirley Temple doll wearing a shirt reading, "Welcome the Rolling Stones."

The obscured full inscription actually reads, "WMPS Good Guys Welcome the Rolling Stones."
WMPS was a Memphis, Tennessee AM radio station and in 1965 held a contest where one lucky fan would get to meet the Stones. Mary Anne May, a senior at Immaculate Conception High School, "bought a kids striped shirt at the dollar store, because Mick Jagger was wearing striped shirts a lot onstage then." She stitched the inscription on the shirt, sent if off the station.

And won.

During intermission, Mary Ann went backstage. Jagger spotted the shirt, asked. "Is this for me?" and that's the last Mary Ann ever saw of it until it appeared on Sgt. Peppers. The Shirley Temple, doll, incidentally, belonged to the art director's son. The Stones would later return the plug by having the Beatles images hidden on the cover of Their Satanic Majesties Request.

Rumors are flying that Apple's "special announcement" during today's Super Bowl will be the release of the Beatles entire catalog on iTunes, which will please more than one fan, including this one.

Source: Memphis Commercial Appeal

Eric Von Schmidt 1931-2007

via AP - Guitarist and painter Eric von Schmidt, a player in the Northeast's blues and folk scene in the 1950s and 1960s who influenced Bob Dylan, has died. He was 75. Guitarist and painter Eric von Schmidt, a player in the Northeast's blues and folk scene in the 1950s and 1960s who influenced Bob Dylan, has died. He was 75.

Von Schmidt began playing guitar when he was 17, and said he was inspired when he heard bluesman Leadbelly on the radio. He said he listened to many folk and blues recordings at the Library of Congress, where his father — Harold von Schmidt, who was noted for his illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post — would drop him off during trips to Washington.

He went to Italy in 1955 to study art on a Fulbright scholarship before landing in Cambridge. His first album, The Folk Blues of Eric von Schmidt, was released in 1963.

One of his better known songs was Joshua Gone Barbados, which has been performed by several other artists. The ASCAP Foundation, which promotes music education, gave him its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. He also painted album covers for Baez and other folk musicians.

You can see some of Von Schmidt's art at his official site.

American Life in Poetry: Column 097

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Though parents know that their children will grow up and away from them, will love and be loved by others, it's a difficult thing to accept. Massachusetts poet Mary Jo Salter emphasizes the poignancy of the parent/child relationship in this perceptive and compelling poem.


Somebody Else's Baby

From now on they always are, for years now
they always have been, but from now on you know
they are, they always will be,

from now on when they cry and you say
wryly to their mother, better you than me,
you'd better mean it, you'd better

hand over what you can't have, and gracefully.


Reprinted from "New Letters," vol. 72, no. 3-4, 2006, by permission of the poet. Copyright (c) 2006 by Mary Jo Salter, whose most recent book of poetry is "Open Shutters," Knopf, 2003. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.

American Life in Poetry: Column 096

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Grief can endure a long, long time. A deep loss is very reluctant to let us set it aside, to push it into a corner of memory. Here the Arkansas poet, Andrea Hollander Budy, gives us a look at one family's adjustment to a death.


For Weeks After the Funeral

The house felt like the opera,
the audience in their seats, hushed, ready,
but the cast not yet arrived.

And if I said anything
to try to appease the anxious air, my words
would hang alone like the single chandelier

waiting to dim the auditorium, but still
too huge, too prominent, too bright, its light
announcing only itself, bringing more

emptiness into the emptiness.


Copyright (c) 2006 by Andrea Hollander Budy. First published in "Five Points" and included in her book, "Woman in the Painting." Reprinted by permission of the author and Autumn House Press. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. For information on permissions and usage, or to download a PDF version of the column, visit www.americanlifeinpoetry.org.

That Big Announcement Time

Thanks to Dreamtime I've signed a deal and will be writing a weekly music column for "Gather," a social networking site, that's sometimes been described as "the MySpace for the NPR set." You can see the site here...

http://www.gather.com/

... and you can track my writing at Gather here.

The column's name is currently "Under the Radar," although that will be changing to avoid confusion with a music mag of the same name.

Whatever I end up naming the column, it will have the same general theme as Dreamtime; stuff you wouldn't hear on the radio; trivia, stories about music and musicians. Sometimes the content will be the same thing as I'm posting over at the Dreamtime blog - edited to make sense for non-Theme Time listeners - sometimes it will diverge. I have a couple of things in mind that wouldn't fit in Dreamtime that I've been hankering to write.

Gather has been around for about a year. It's Boston-based, partially funded by NPR, the Hearst Corporation, several others. It don't think it's been as successful as anyone would like.

When I joined last year Gather reminded me of an out-of-control writing workshop, with everyone clamoring for attention for their own writing and no one willing to read anything else. Most people who I sent to Gather found the interface very confusing, too, as I did. I cross-posted a few articles from fhb and Dreamtime at Gather with little reaction over the past year, and eventually decided it was too much of a hassle for the 'lil Gather dollars that the articles earned.

But I think they're making a good move, I'm one of what will eventually be 70-80 "Gather Correspondents," for various groups such as politics; music; writing; movies; cooking; and so on - and whose agenda - outside of writing - will be to put some order and consistency around the chaos.

Gather has changed their user interface too. It now seems to be simpler and easier to find things you're interested in reading. But we'll see how it works out. The gig doesn't pay much - few freelance writing gigs do - but it does pay real moola now as opposed to their "Gather dollars", and the exposure may be good, especially since I can cross-advertise Dreamtime, fhb, and my Amazon Dreamtime store. And heck, I even get free CDs.

And that's the Big Announcement. I was touched that several family members and friends contacted me in the hopes that XM, or NPR, or Mr. D., or somebody was tossing bags of gold my way. But Dreamtime is the best sort of writing. No pressure, no censors, no editors. Of course no money and a small audience too. :-) But I still find it fun, and at this point, having fun writing is a very important thing to me. I'm hoping the Gather gig will be fun too, but whatever happens, you'll hear about it. Promise.

We now return you to the regular blog, already in progress.

Time to air out the ol' ape pelt tomorrow

Well, indeed. And why is it important, you ask? Read all about it here. You'll be proud of yourself for helping promote such a worthy cause.

Oh, and for those Constant Readers emailing me about the Big Announcement (and one so curious he even had his wife call), I'm under embargo until February 1st and - since I'm travelling that day - I probably won't make the Big Announcement until the 2nd.

So hang in there.

The State of Online Poker...

... is disquieting, to say the least. "Disheartening" might be a better term.

Last week, after having the screws put to it by the U.S. gummit, NETeller, which was the money transfer service I - along with thousands of others - used to get money in/out of my poker accounts, closed to U.S. citizens. On the heels of the announcement I received an email from UltimateBet, noting several alternatives, one of which actually cut off its service to U.S. citizens a few hours later. PokerStars seems to be trying to keep a low profile. No email, just a notice on their site advising the unavailability of NETteller to U.S. citizens.

There are still alternatives, which I can try when I need to fund one of my two - possibly soon to be three accounts, as I'm thinking of dropping a (very) small bankroll into FullTilt, as many of my imaginary friends are migrating there. But, I'm expecting at some point in the future my bank will be sending me a notice, advising me that they're refusing the transfer, or one or more of the sites I play on will just decide that it's too much hassle to face the possible of their executives if they set foot on U.S. soil and say "sorry, Rico."

Of course, playing online poker isn't illegal. By God, I have two different emails from New Hamster's finest pols telling me that.

Yep.

Of course, it's getting more and more difficult for me to fund my playing, but at least I have the assurance that everything is just jake between me and my government.

I know just how a regular joe must have felt during prohibition, when all he wanted was a beer at day's end, and ended up having to go places he normally wouldn't go, meet people he didn't want to meet, and feel like a criminal in the process. All for a lousy beer.

The Poker Players' Alliance, which personally I feel has been about as useful as tits on a boar to date, sent out an email recently noting,

"...The PPA is not standing idly by. Poker should be exempt under the new law and that exemption is our primary goal. I have spent a good portion of January in Washington, D.C., meeting with lawmakers and others to get support for legislation that would provide a “skill game” exemption for poker. We hope to have a bill introduced very soon and then bring to bear the voice of more than 135,000 members of the PPA to push Congress to do the right thing. This would be a very positive development for the game. For the past year, we have been on the defensive, but now is the time to go on the offensive and get a bill introduced.

This year we will also be taking the issue directly to Members of Congress in their home districts, to truly nationalize the debate. We had a tremendous response from our members about becoming PPA grassroots representatives on the state and regional levels. Soon we will be announcing our positions across the country and engaging U.S. Representatives and Senators where they used to feel safe from facts and spirited debate.

While we are working toward the short-term goal of a poker exemption, the PPA will also be laying the foundation for the eventual U.S. regulation of online poker. This is the only proven public policy for online gaming. Licensing, regulating, and taxing online poker is technically feasible and the sensible and fiscally responsible thing to do. We will be working with others in Washington to move Congress in this direction.

Finally, we not only rely on your active participation but also on your active support to achieve our goals. Our new site now offers no cost introductory annual memberships. Please help us build our membership to enable us to deliver a full house to Congress and stop further threats to our game. Tell your friends, family, and fellow players to become members of the PPA. We also offer an ability to upgrade your membership from introductory to full membership and beyond. Our new and improved Web site, www.pokerplayersalliance.org, gives you tools and information to help our cause, as well as make it easier for you to donate to the PPA. I hope you will make a contribution at http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/donatenow.php."

Well, we'll see. I'm not making any more contributions until I see the PPA do something past press releases. As to the "regulation of online poker," I'm still personally convinced that much of this has come about because the traditional bricks-and-mortar U.S. casinos saw billions of dollars flowing right out of their greedy lil hands to Gibraltar and Israel and god-knows-where and started getting their tame Congress-critters on the case. And, once it's impossible for U.S. players to get money in/out of the international betting sites, somehow, miraculously, legislation will be passed that will allow regulated U.S casinos to offer online poker, blackjack, et al. As I tell Peggy, I'm fully expecting not to be able to play online poker by the end of the year, but bet I'll be playing online poker at a Caesars or Harrah's-branded site within the next three years.

Hey, Hey, I'm a Monkee

Come watch Dreamtime sing and play. I'm the young generation and I got something to say.

Well, at least 10 minutes worth. Episode 27 of the Dreamtime podcast features Mike "Wool Hat" Nesmith, Liquid Paper, Tiger Beat, Charlie Manson, Jimi Hendrix, and the Mike Nesmith/Bob Dylan non-collaboration, "Rio."

As I mentioned earlier, one of the things I miss from the closed White Man Stew Theme Time Forums was someone posting "Theme Time" artist videos found on YouTube. I've added a new segment to Dreamtime that I plan on offering on an "off-week" (that is, when I don't have the next podcast in the works) basis... always keeping in mind that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds and sometimes I'll be posting a podcast that week, sometimes a YouTube video, maybe sometimes I'll post both, like this week.

The first of the two videos currently on the site feature the female Elvis, Wanda Jackson, ripping through the rockabilly number, "Rock Your Baby" from 1958. The other is one of my favorites, from 1989, with Van Morrison reading the Slim Gaillard passage from "On the Road," as Gaillard himself recreates the scene as described by Kerouac.

Both - and more as I post them - can always be found through the Dreamtime video label...

http://fhb-dreamtime.blogspot.com/search/label/Video

If you come across a Theme Time-related video that you'd like to see up on Dreamtime, feel free to email me.

American Life in Poetry: Column 095

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

Literature, and in this instance, poetry, holds a mirror to life; thus the great themes of life become the great themes of poems. Here the distinguished American poet, John Haines, addresses--and celebrates through the affirmation of poetry--our preoccupation with aging and mortality.


Young Man

I seemed always standing
before a door
to which I had no key,
although I knew it hid behind it
a gift for me.

Until one day I closed
my eyes a moment, stretched
then looked once more.
And not surprised, I did not mind it
when the hinges creaked
and, smiling, Death
held out his hands to me.


Reprinted from "ABZ: A Poetry Magazine," No. 1, 2006, by permission of the author. Copyright (c) 2006, by John Haines, whose most recent book of poetry is "Of Your Passage, O Summer," Limberlost Press, 2004. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

American Life in Poetry: Column 094

BY TED KOOSER, U.S. POET LAUREATE, 2004-2006

While many of the poems we feature in this column are written in open forms, that's not to say I don't respect good writing done in traditional meter and rhyme. But a number of contemporary poets, knowing how a rigid attachment to form can take charge of the writing and drag the poet along behind, will choose, say, the traditional villanelle form, then relax its restraints through the use of broken rhythm and inexact rhymes. I'd guess that if I weren't talking about it, you might not notice, reading this poem by Floyd Skloot, that you were reading a sonnet.


Silent Music

My wife wears headphones as she plays
Chopin etudes in the winter light.
Singing random notes, she sways
in and out of shadow while night
settles. The keys she presses make a soft
clack, the bench creaks when her weight shifts,
golden cotton fabric ripples across
her shoulders, and the sustain pedal clicks.
This is the hidden melody I know
so well, her body finding harmony in
the give and take of motion, her lyric
grace of gesture measured against a slow
fall of darkness. Now stillness descends
to signal the end of her silent music.


Reprinted from "Prairie Schooner," Volume 80, Number 2 (Summer, 2006) by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright (c) 2006 by the University of Nebraska Press. Floyd Skloot's most recent book is "The End of Dreams," 2006, Louisiana State University Press. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Autopsy of 'Big Bopper' to Address Rumors About 1959 Plane Crash

via The Washington Post:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The son of "the Big Bopper" has hired a forensic anthropologist to try to answer questions about how his father died in the 1959 plane crash that also took the lives of famous rock-and-rollers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.

Jay Richardson, who performs tribute shows as "the Big Bopper Jr.," hopes an examination of his father's remains will settle rumors that a gun was fired aboard the plane, and tell whether the Big Bopper might have survived the crash impact and died trying to go for help.

"I'm not looking for any great bombshell, but then again you never know," Richardson said in a phone interview from his home outside Houston.

J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson is buried in Beaumont, Tex. After his remains are studied, they will be reburied and a life-size statue will be put up next to the grave.

Jay Richardson never knew his father, who soared to rock fame with his late-'50s hit "Chantilly Lace." His mother was pregnant with him when his father died.

The music stars were killed on Feb. 3, 1959, when their four-passenger plane crashed after taking off from the Mason City, Iowa, airport -- a tragedy memorialized as "the day the music died" in Don McLean's song "American Pie."

The group had been traveling by bus on their "Winter Dance Party" tour of the Midwest, but Holly chartered the plane because the bus was cold and prone to breaking down.

Following a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, Waylon Jennings, then a member of Holly's band, gave up his seat on the plane to Richardson, who was feeling ill and seeking a shorter trip to the next stop.

An autopsy was performed on the pilot's body, but not on the others.

Bill Bass, founder of the research facility at the University of Tennessee nicknamed the Body Farm, plans to study the remains in March. Bass is an expert in determining identities and causes of death.

In this case, Bass said, his goal is to "document all the fractures and get an idea of how many broken bones and which ones are critical and give . . . as much information as I can about the crash and how it affected his father."

In its accident report, the Civil Aeronautics Board said pilot error was the cause of the crash. The report didn't mention a gun belonging to Holly that was found by a farmer two months after the crash.

Newspaper accounts of the gun discovery fueled rumors among fans that the pilot was somehow shot, causing the crash. The owner of the flying service added to the conspiracy theory by insisting his pilot was not at fault, saying the pilot must have been "incapacitated."

X-rays of the bones should be able to show whether the Bopper was hit by a bullet, because the lead in the bullet would leave debris.

"I don't expect to find that," Richardson said. "If these rumors persist, I can tell you Dad wasn't [shot]. That's what I hope it comes to."

Another curious finding at the crash was that Richardson's body was discovered nearly 40 feet from the wreckage, while the others were found in or near the plane.

Bass said examining the bones could determine whether Richardson could have moved himself from the wreckage or if he was thrown by the force of the crash.

"I don't know how I would feel to know that my father died some other way than what I believed most of my life," his son said.

Dreamtime, Nancy Sinatra, Theme Time Videos and Big Announcement pending.

Did you know that Phil Silvers - Sgt. Bilko - wrote the lyrics to Nancy with the Laughing Face? I didn't until Bob Dylan informed me, and that's one of the reasons I love Theme Time Radio Hour. Read all about it here.

I'm also adding a new segment to Dreamtime that I plan on offering on an "off-week" (that is, when I don't have the next podcast in the works) basis... always keeping in mind that consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds and sometimes I'll be posting a podcast that week, sometimes a YouTube video, maybe sometimes I'll post both.

One of the things I miss from the closed White Man Stew Theme Time Forums was someone posting "Theme Time" artist videos found on YouTube. Here's one of my favorites, from 1989 Van Morrison reading the Slim Gaillard passage from "On the Road," as Gaillard himself recreates the scene as described by Kerouac. Dylan read the same passage in the "Moon" episode of Theme Time.

And finally, in the spirit of Big Announcements, I hope to have a Big Announcement made public Real Soon Now. And no, neither Dylan nor XM has offered me a job. It's not that Big.

Tough week...

... and it's only Thursday. On Monday, we got whacked by the ubiquitous ice storm that's been plaguing the U.S. from Texas to up here. Power first shut down around 11:30 a.m. (shortly after I posted Monday's post, in fact), came back on around 1:00, and shut down again at around 1:30.

And stayed off.

And stayed off.

Finally coming back on late Tuesday around 4 p.m. as PSNH crews and crews from as far away as Connecticut worked to get the lights back on. We had a scare Wednesday morning circa 6 a.m. as the power went off again, but it was apparently planned, as it came back on around a half-hour later and (cross fingers, knock wood) so far has stayed on.

So, you go find the flashlights, and finally find one that has charged batteries, and you find the oil lamps, and go get the various ornamental candles given as gifts, and you light the fireplace and hunker down with the cats. And you go out to get a new portable (battery-driven) radio so you have some sounds. And you move the Old School phone from the bedroom downstairs because none of the wireless phones work.

Monday wasn't too bad. The temperature hunkered right around freezing, with the rain coming down and icing everything it touched. We lost a big branch on the old crab apple out front, and the work crews took out a bent birch that was blocking the road.

With the fireplace cranking since 11:30, the living room stayed around the high 60s. Rest of the house dropped down to mid 50s. We went to bed early, cranked up the bedroom fireplace, put on our woollies, and had a relatively easy night of it.

Tuesday was worse as the temperature outside and in plummeted, and we were making plans to take cats and ourselves over to Peggy's brother for the evening when, as I said, the power came back. And now we're back to normalcy, such as it is. According to reports, at the storm's height, over 50,000 NH customers had power out. That quickly dropped to around 30k, and stayed at that level through much of Tuesday. They're now saying "thousands," and report that all customers should have power on by end of day.

The thing you're not expecting when you lose power is how quiet everything gets. No furnace clicking. No compressors. No electrical hum which is the constant background of these Modern Times. I sat next to the fireplace, reading by kerosene light, and thought about what the noises must have been pre-electricity. Crackle of the fire. Creaking of the bones of the house. Wind rattling a window.